September 13, 2009

I just had a few more points, many of which were covered in the comments today to the story below.

To start, the first half was played like the team reads my stuff. Bobo was going to A.J. as often as possible, Richard Samuel was breaking tackles, and Blair Walsh was booming them into the end zone. But, there's still some odd things about our offense. Carlton Thomas had some plays that were much better suited to Richard Samuel. A.J. still needs to work on ball security (is that the third pitch-fumble for A.J. in our territory early in the game? Bama, Okie State, and SC). And Joe Cox stared down Tavarres King so long before that INT return, I thought he was a Tech student seeing a decent looking woman for the first time. The series that ended with the safety was almost as bad as an offense can get. Consistency, as usual, is lacking.

On the whole, though, we had some strong plays and a crafty reverse call that went 61 yards. Lots to improve, but you should feel much better about the offense than a week ago.

Now, I know many of you will serve up Saturday night as more evidence for the indictment of Willie Martinez. However, he has some mitigating circumstances. First, most of SC's scoring drives started in UGA territory. Second, the defense was out there all night. Carolina had about thirty more snaps than UGA. They had the ball for ten more minutes than the Dawgs. Any defense is going to bend under those conditions. Third, Willie was trying everything. We blitzed linebackers, safeties and corners, but Carolina picked them up or Garcia squirted out of the collapsing pocket to make a short gain. In fact, Garcia and the Cocks seemed to bog down on their drives when we stopped blitzing and dropped more guys in coverage. So, while the score and Garcia's numbers looks bad, our D wasn't as bad as you might think. (By the way, the sermon at church today was about focusing on the positives. Can you tell?) But, at some point, you might think we would adjust to stem those short underneath routes that shredded our zone defense all night.

On a sad note, for the second time in two games, a Dawg tore his ACL. This week it was Rod Battle. (Get well, Rod!) Justin Houston comes off suspension this week just in time.

In sum, there was enough improvement to be optimistic about this year, but Georgia still has lots of work to do.

as far as "the defense was out there all night"...well wasn't their offense on the field as much as our defense was? Why isn't that a wash? Offense does sub more but the skill players run farther too. I actually went to West Georgia so my math isn't great. I can count to 17, which is the length of their current losing streak.

Takes more energy to play defense than offense, goes the standard maxim, Dubbayoo.

But I agree on one level...if the defense had played better aftre the first they could have gotten off the field quicker, no? 26 first downs is a lot. But I don't want to be too hard on the effort or scheme, as we made the plays to keep 'em off the board, so we work on the rest.

Too bad about Battle. I hate these guys getting hurt like that; they put in os much preparation and practice to get there.

W,The defense has to chase the ball until the end of the play. While offensive players should keep blocking, they get a little bit more of a break, e.g. if you are the WR on the away side of a run after a block or two, you are done, but the DB covering you has to run across the field toward the RB to make the tackle.

Trey,It is big because we have little depth or experience at DE. Getting Houston will help, but we just don't have numbers at DE.

Quinton,You are spot on about consistency. I am watching the replay and when we were up 21-17 in the mid-2nd, we were driving. Charles had just made a big catch. Then, sputter, running Thomas inside and get called for chop-block. We settle for 50 yard FG. Then, we kick and the defense plays great- TFL, 3 yard pass and incompletion. We are about to get the ball back and start to put the game away, but... poor design or execution on special teams (of course) allows them to run a fake for 11 yrds. Garcia goes 4-7 and moves the ball down field. They settle for a FG because of some penalties, but that shouldn't have happened. After the D gets the stop, we should have been in position to go up at least 27-17 if not more.

Some times it is the players, some times it is the coaching, but we just can't all get it going at once.

Any chance in the world that CMR can talk his fellow military supporter and travel companion, Tommy Tubberville, into taking over the defensive reigns from Willie? It's a long shot at best I know, but knowing that he can stick it up AllBarn's rear end every single year could be a very enticing selling point. He could be this generation of Bulldog fans' Erk Russell without the bloody forehead. The Dawgs and we as fans continually talk about "getting over the hump" to become serious national championship contenders. We probably only need a nudge, but this would be a Reshad Jones push out of bounds in the right direction.

Though you are right about Garcia's mobility keeping a lot of plays alive, I think you are being too generous to Martinez. We had drives of 9, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 15 plays. We didn't punt in the final three quarters, and our second (and final) punt was caused by a third down drop, as were a couple of the FG's. You also have to consider the two TD's called back, neither of which was canceled by a flag near the play.

I wish I could hate Rennie Curran like I did David Pollack, but he just seems like a great guy. The worst I can say about him is I hope he has and takes the chance to go pro at the end of the year. Congrats on the win.

I'm just finishing watching the game on TiVo. I agree with everything you say, Quinton.

My biggest concern while watching the game live was that we could stop nothing that was thrown between the line of scrimmage and 5 yds into our defensive backfield. On TV, Craig James made the point before South Carolina's drive that vulnerability to the short pass was a weakness South Carolina saw in our OKST defense and they planned on exploiting it. They did it all night. We never adjusted to it. Those kinds of plays - tight end curls, tunnel screens, short crossing routes - were eating us up on the last drive just like they did in the first quarter.

I understand that we were somewhat shorthanded, tired, and trying to keep everything in front of us, but this follows a pattern of being the team that others adjust to, not the one that adjusts to our opponent. Thoughts?

Joe Cox looked like he was about to die - drenched in sweat, pale grey skin.

Joe Cox has no arm. So many passes get tipped or picked because there is no velocity. 30 minutes before the pick six I told my wife "there's going to be a bad pick before this game is over, because his slow passes are easy to pick out of the air."

Bobo is just picking plays at random. Thank god we have such amazing players that never give up. Why we never play smash mouth football amazes me. We have a RB averaging 5.4 yards a carry, and he doesn't see the ball for 10 plays in a row. Retarded.

Martinez is still the same crappy coach he always has been. Our defensive players are great, but when they come on the field after a turnover or bad special teams play, its like they think "oh woe is us, here we are again backs against the wall because of our offense." A good defensive coordinator would have those players fired up and treating those as opportunities to prove how bad ass they are.

We have great players. Thank god. They give their all out there and it is a beautiful thing to see. It is a shame most of our coaches suck and are really letting our players and fans down.

Okay, PLEASE stop using the excuse "the defense was out there all game" and here is why I say that. Ga's scheme on defense plays cover 2 and allows short passes underneath. Kelin Johnson after the game says the LBs are supposed to play deep because they don't want a 15 yd pass to happen behind them so they allow the 5-8 yds underneath. So opposing teams just dink us down the field. if our defense is on the field for so long its because of OUR scheme!! WE (Martinez) is the reason the defense is on the field so much, so stop with the excuse. Change the scheme and maybe they'll get off the field sooner.

During previous years the defense was always on the field and always seemed to come through and saved our rears I do not know how many times . We can not use that excuse something has to give with the defense ability to tackle and cover the underneath pass. I do not know who is at fault but you did not see that out of an Erk Russell defense.

It kills me to say this since I'm not a pessimistic type of guy but---we will never sniff another SECC game as long as we have CWM and CJJ on our coaching staff. Same goes to CMB to a lesser extent (its as if Bobo has a hopper in the booth full of plays he draws from every down.) What is especially troubling for me is the assistant coaches have no fear of getting fired, since CMR has never fired an assistant before (sans the guy from '01 who was forced to quit for, lets just say, improprieties with coeds.)

This is one of the reasons why Damon Evans and CMR had several quite terse conversations this past off-season---Damon (correctly) felt the assistants never felt any heat from CMR, among other things. Because of this CMR and DE aren't exactly best buddies these days, to say the least. I hate to say it but, it looks to me as if CMR is going down the path of protecting his assistants at all costs, which almost never results in a good outcome. Eventually this might all boil over, though I certainly hope not for obvious reasons.

At the end of this season, I truly hope CMR has the courage to make some changes for once. If not, then I shudder to think about the future ahead, especially given the amazing coaches and their staffs that are in place around the SEC. Finally, as a small business owner, I can tell you with 100% certainty that my employees would be far less productive or successful if they had no fear of ever being fired or let go. I hate to say it but, I'm afraid this is where we are now, however, in regard to certain assistants.

I'm confident such an environment doesn't exist at schools like Bama, UF, LSU, etc. Heck, LSU fired their DC after just one bad season...we're into season 5 of the CWM era with more of the same old nonsense that is keeping us from ever getting ahead.

Sure there are X's and O's but one of the greatest attributes of a good coach is motivation. I applaud CWM for that. They played their hearts out.Would all you Monday AM QB's and complainers rather have seen a well executed defeat ? Its incredible the bellyaching and whining about a W. Remember it is a W and when it is all said and done it is the only stat that matters. Geez, get over yourselves. It was a hell of an entertaining football game and UGA won! Im glad and encouraged. Negativity is so cheaply bought and is of no substance.

On one hand, Petrino is a genius. On the other hand, they went 2-5 in the SEC last year. On one hand, playing Missouri State doesn't tell us anything. On the other hand, it was an impressive performance.

Either the game against Mizzou St. meant something or it didn't. You can't have both. Go ahead and have the surgery to drop your balls or get the appendage sniped...but either way,s top walking around as a confused hermaphrodite.

(Favorite line about Willie's blitzing D from Saturday night..."Wilie is the only man I've met with balls but no sack.")

Anyway...sorry about the rant.

What I really wanted to point out from the article was this sentence: "Credit can't be given to the UGA offense--their numbers were mediocre at best."

This is stupid. The offensive yardage numbers might have been 'mediocre', but you can't just shrug off the fact that Thomas/Samuel averaged 4.23 yards per carry, Branden Smith had two touches for 65 yards, Cox hit on his passes at a 71% clip, they were 5 for 5 on scoring in the red zone, 5 for 9 on 3rd down, they had 5.8 yards per offensive play, and 11.8 yards per completed pass. You don't have to call those numbers great, but calling them mediocre just seems lazy.

Anyway, the real problem I have is that South Carolina dropped back to pass 55 times and UGA only had 2 sacks, 1 INT, and 3 pass break ups. Their is a lot of positives in 17 Qb Hurries, but if you are getting close to the QB 31% of the time and the QB is still completing 60% of his passes and rushing for 58 yards on a 4.7 ypc average, there is something seriously wrong with your scheme or its execution.

Just a quick follow up...I don't want to be a negative nelly. We have some incredible talent on both sides of the ball and I think Richt, Bobo, and Martinez can all coach.

All I am saying is that the defense has to stop spinning its wheels and make an adjustment to turn the pressure into incompletions/sacks/turnovers...I think it could be a small adjustment of containment of the pocket, etc. etc.

The sky isn't falling. They haven't lost to an unranked/crapy team since that bad South Carolina loss in 2007. They just need to make the tweaks to beat the good teams.

Coach Saban-PWD has told you this before, but stay off our comments. You've been banned for your numerous and disturbing profanity laced rants about the state of American amateur pornography and its impact on your quality of life. This is your last warning. You are supposed to be a very busy man. Conduct yourself as such.

960 got an e-mail this AM from somebody that met Luke Walton, etc. tailgating. They are in a fantasy league and each yr they visit a campus. Early polls said they like the Georgia co-eds.

I've also heard Aaron is injured and saw an orthopedist last week.

If you subtract the pick six and the snapper's delight, and account for the fumbles, this games isn't close.

And no, our defense is not loaded with talent. We have a two great DT's and one great LB. The rest are average or not yet fully developed. Which unit on this D would start ahead of any unit on the D from 2000 through 2005?

BTW Geno lined up at DE on several plays so CWM is throwing the kitchen sink trying to get pressure.

Final echo, why can't we run it on first down? Moreso when the D played the entire first half. Is it too much to axe?

1. Joe Cox can play QB in the SEC, though he still telegraphs passes a little too much for my taste (Eric Norwood can attest).

2. The offensive line, when it wants to, can protect the aforementioned Cox and open running lanes. The blindside hit on Cox was a corner blitz that was just a right time/right call by South Carolina DC Ellis Johonson.

3. The mix of young, athletic players and the less-talented veterans causes the inconsitency everyone is clamoring about. Give it a couple of more games and you'll see the two start to mesh (Sidenote: Branden Smith is one of the fastest Georgia players I've seen in some time).

4. Georgia's safeties, specifically "Toast" Evans, is where the vulnerability exists on defense. I'm still holding out hope for Reshad Jones, but Baccari Rambo needs more PT, especially in third-and-long situations.

5. When Samuel or any other TB is getting 4 to 5 yards a clip, Bobo needs to stick with run as long as possible.

I fail to see why CWM is still taking so much heat from so called UGA fans.I am guessing you watched them hold sc to fg several times.I am also guessing that at least a few noticed the 17 points the offense gave them,not to mention the fact that good defense relies on the offense eating some clock.CWM did not sit RS after he was into a "groove".BTW UGA D was 22nd nationally last year.The big scores given up last year wasn't all on CWM,CMB and "special" teams were a huge part too.Enjoy beating SS and stop the "chicken little" act it's getting old.